A 28-year-old software engineer, hosting a Holi party for his friends, allegedly fell to his death from the balcony of his ninth-floor flat in Bellandur, southeast Bengaluru, on Thursday night.

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Gautam Kumar, the resident of Sobha Daisy Apartments and software engineer with Indicubeto at Kadubeesanahalli, was partying with five friends. Around 11 pm, Gautam, from Patna, received a call from his parents and went to the balcony to speak to them. Police suspect he was leaning against the 4-foot-high parapet wall when he lost his balance and fell.

Police said his friends learnt about his death 15 minutes after the incident.

‘No foul play in techie’s death’

A security guard at the flat heard a thud and rushed to the spot to find Gautam in a pool of blood. “He informed his colleagues. Gautam had died instantly after sustaining a massive head injury. Gautam’s friends noticed he was not in the balcony and their calls to him were not being returned. They found a crowd on the ground and rushed there to see his body,” a police officer said.

Alerted by apartment residents, police rushed to the spot and shifted the body to St John’s Medical College Hospital where the postmortem was conducted on Friday. Police filed a case of an unnatural death based on the complaint lodged by his sister, Swathi, who stays in Nagawara.

Gautam and five friends were partying in the flat and he had consumed alcohol,” a police officer added. “There seems to be no foul play and CCTV footage shows him going to the utility balcony alone. Gautam’s relatives have not made any allegations about the incident. We registered a case of unnatural death,” an investigating officer said.

Gautam came to Bengaluru five years ago. He and three friends purchased the flat a few months ago.